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Gordon2, thanks for the information on the shipping. i had been wondering just how the scam would work with free shipping and COD payment. Now I know!
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Well thats one one it could play out.. there are others.
If they ever say they will meet your agent who has the cash, and produce the trailer with good title, then I might pursue it.. but right now I would give you 100 to one odds on a ten dollar bet that its a scam.

Well thats one one it could pay out.. there are others.
If they ever say they will meet your agent who has the cash, and produce the trailer with good title, then I might pursue it.. but right now I would give you 100 to one odds on a ten dollar bet that its a scam.

Bill, I do hope you flagged the original ad. Thanks for your humorous way of bringing this dark side of our world to the attention of newcomers anxiously looking for their dream trailer! It could help someone avoid a nightmare.

Bill, I do hope you flagged the original ad. Thanks for your humorous way of bringing this dark side of our world to the attention of newcomers anxiously looking for their dream trailer! It could help someone avoid a nightmare.

Yes Jon, I did. In fact, as of today, I have flagged that same ad three times!

I do wonder just country the scammers posting this ad are in? Just curiousity on my part. English is better than mine!

No reply from them for two days, so I guess they have decided I'm not a good prospect. Dang...i sure wanted that Scamp!!

The seller didn't give me the VIN. He/She asked me why I wanted it? I thought since it had a rebuilt title, the VIN maybe of some use to find out more history on the trailer. Not sure why one would question the need for the VIN unless there was something to hide. Maybe I am incorrect?

Just had extremely similar experience with CraigsList ad for a different kind of trailer, but same sob story (divorce, etc). I detest criminality enough to have registered specifically to post the following 'me too' warning even at the risk of giving useful feedback to people who might use it for ill.

Not only your money but your life can be at stake, esp. if you disclose your address. I hope the lack of followup in this thread for the original poster (OP) is not a bad sign. And even if only money is lost, it may be used to buy weapons or support terror here or elsewhere in the world. It is sad that society has come to the point that we have to consider such evil with every public interaction, but that is reality. Here are some observations that may help detect or at least raise a yellow or red flag:

Signs of a con artist at work in Craigs List post

1) It's a Craig's list ad. That's a yellow flag right there. Why not use Ebay motors?
2) Randomly mixed upper and lower case letters in ad(not sure why this is, but have seen more than one)
3) If price is a bit too good to be true, it probably is.

Signs in initial email response
(nearly identical wording to OP above except for name of trailer, length, price etc)
1) Took several days to reply with an apology for delay in response (in and of itself not a huge flag perhaps)
2) Generic, did not mention name of inquirer, did not initially respond to request for more photos, and fishy story about a buyer 'in my state' without mentioning the state.
3) Slightly fishy story, but not so much that it was not completely unbelievable. Buyer for fairly low priced vehicle was not able to raise loan, and free shipping because had prepaid shipping to 'my state' and was not able to obtain refund.
4) Signed "God Bless You" (always leery of overly public religious salespersons, seen as attempt to gain credibility without merit to back it up)

Signs in f/u email response
1) Ignored all inquiries (again) except for more photos
2) More fishy attempts to entice into sending address (will send COD with all papers in your name) etc
3) Claims of 5 day money-back guarantee but no specifics on how this would be claimed.

Possible outcomes (I will never know because I stopped engaging):
1) 'COD shipment' is only a way to get address to rob you of the $1500 cash price
2) May only be a way to associate your email address with a physical address and steal your identity (potentially via further f/u emails)
3) Possible setup to find out when you are not home and rob you
4) Possible setup to attack you (this is a stretch perhaps, but robberies do go wrong on occasion)
5) Money stolen could be used for anything from drugs to terrorism

Bottom line:
Majority of world's people have at least some good in them, but there are scammers, cons, and outright criminals out there willing to steal your money or your life. Who knows what they will do with either. Do not fall prey or engage them.

If you absolutely must use CraigsList or similar online service, google for info on how to protect yourself from con artists.

Yea, Dave, one would hope, but this particular scam use perfect English grammar and spelling, even almost fooled two other people I ran it by who are fairly savvy and borderline paranoid. The point is that we cannot rely on 'bad English' or completely obvious frauds anymore. Criminals can be extremely savvy.

Found some tips on Lifehacker (googled how to avoid getting screwed when buying on CraigsList), but most of them would have missed this particular scam. But one of them that might have caught it was "Ad posted in multiple places" and that may be related to the upper & lower case spelling used in the description that I noted above (or perhaps not, I think most search engines are not case sensitive). An ad similar to this ad was taken down previously, but sometimes there are legitimate reasons for this (item sold, details changed, etc). Fortunately that raised a yellow flag for me.

I found this this particular forum thread by googling the exact wording in the email I received about 5 days after I replied to the CL ad. So that's something I will do from now on -- google is my friend!

PS the fact that even a senior member on this list was almost suckered into the OP's Scamp story is further evidence of the seductiveness of this CL scam. The ad I responded to was nearly identical, including the first initials of the "seller's" name (and I presume the rest which the OP x'd out). Only differences were minor like brand of trailer, length, and price. Phrasing of f/u email identical too -- "don't want to offend but this is priced for quick sale, two other offers, etc"

Someone had recommended telling them to go ahead and ship it -- bad mistake cause they would have address now. I must admit my evil benevolence side was half tempted to send seller the address of a police department in a nearby town.

**By the way, parking lots are NOT recommended for any transactions according to my research people don't pay enough attention to parking lots. Do all transactions in lobby of bank (convenient for money exchange also) or if that is too awkward, a hotel lobby.